On the developing Catholic theological "Mercy War".

Has Blessed Cardinal Newman's "Development of Christian Doctrine" been weaponized in the new Mercy War?

Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman's Development of Christian Doctrine is, in my opinion, a scholarly masterpiece of Christian doctrinal history. The thorough research that produced this book played a large part in Newman's steady conversion from the Church of England to Roman Catholicism. What he had researched and documented was what was and remains profoundly true: the Doctrines never change.

How could this be? The Church is over 2,000 years old. The Roman Papacy is the oldest continuously existing human institution on earth, by a huge margin. And yet, no doctrine that came out of the original Revelation of Jesus Christ and His original Apostles ever changed, in all that time. What Newman had uncovered was unmistakable solid historical evidence supporting the doctrine of infallibility.

"The most obvious answer, then, to the question, why we
yield to the authority of the Church in the questions and developments
of faith, is, that some authority there must be if there is a revelation
given, and other authority there is none but she. A revelation is not given, if there be no authority to decide what it is that is given.
In the words of St. Peter to her Divine Master and Lord, “To whom
shall we go?” Nor must it be forgotten in confirmation, that Scripture
expressly calls the Church “the pillar and ground of the Truth,” and
promises her as by covenant that “the Spirit of the Lord that is upon
her, and His words which He has put in her mouth shall not depart out of
her mouth, nor out of the mouth of her seed, nor out of the mouth of
her seed’s seed, from henceforth and for ever. ” (Emphasis added.)

Development of doctrine over time always involves deeper understanding and perhaps new practices in liturgy, piety or devotions, but never any change to the core doctrines. They all remain exactly as originally preached. An example today might be Eucharistic expositions, including Benedictions and special prayers before the exposed Eucharist. These newer developments do not detract from the real Presence of the Lord in the consecrated bread and wine that is consumed by the faithful at Mass. The core doctrine remains unchanged, while the new devotions reveal an ongoing, ever deepening understanding of it.

That was the only kind of "development" Newman ever found. It was not what he expected to find. He was, after all, a Protestant. But the more research he did, the more consistency he found, and eventually it led him to enter the infallible Church Christ founded upon Peter.

Yet, today, Newman's Development theory is being quoted and used to justify actually changing Doctrine, not entirely, but in little nibbles, through "Merciful" changes in Disciplines that are related to unchangeable Doctrines. Disciplines are lesser Church laws than Revealed Doctrines. Unlike Doctrines, under the purview of Magisterial Authority of the Church, Disciplines can be created, modified or eliminated. In this case, I smell the Progressive branch of Marxism.

The ostensible motive for the newest Doctrinal Disciplines is Mercy.

In my low-level, lay, nobody opinion, Mercy is a gilly suit worn by evil, particularly when the proposed changes in Discipline involve core Doctrines of the Catholic Faith, such as Eucharist.

The ongoing wreckage of the Catholic Church began with Shepherds failing in properly teaching the faith, and even proactively teaching false doctrine. If it didn't begin with the Artificial Contraception controversy, that was certainly the most highly visible example of large numbers of Catholic Bishops opposing an original Revealed Doctrine of the Catholic Faith. And it was all downhill from there.

We've all seen the purposely modified, radicalized and nearly destroyed Liturgy of the post-Vatican II era, which was all outside Council teaching and even outside Novus Ordo Mass norms. The gigantic movement to ordain women; the movement to abandon priestly celebacy; the feminization of language even in Scripture interpretations; the softened teaching on Mortal Sin, particularly of the sexual variety, and more.

Religious Orders dropped religious garb, dropped living in Community, dropped living in strict accordance with any obvious or discernible Order, and, quite predictably, dropped in membership, moving toward extinction. If there is little or no discernible difference between a consecrated religious and a lay person, why should any lay person want to be consecrated?

Many if not most Priests stopped looking and acting like Priests, no longer demanded or expected the special recognition of their Priesthood, and, predictably, dropped in membership, moving toward extinction. If there is little or no discernible difference between a Priest and a layman, why should anyone seek the Priesthood?

Catholic Disciplines and rules of observance and requirements for Sacraments were softened and weakened to the point that there was little discernible difference between practicing Catholics laymen and Protestantism, and, predictably, Catholic Parish membership dropped, and proper Catholic practice of the faith dropped, moving in the direction of the extinction of fully practicing Catholic laity. If there is little or no distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism, why should anyone become or remain Catholic?

Now, we appear to have a New Wave of this "Progress" underway, in the name of all those untold millions of nominal Catholics who became nominal Catholics due almost solely to the piss poor shepherding of their Bishops. The "Cafeteria Catholics" who pick and chose among the Doctrines they will follow and those they will ignore, and yet still fully participate in all the Sacraments, not even recognizing their own state of Mortal Sin, still believing they are fully Catholic. Ignorance is bliss.

The Bishops who taught them this sin now insist on Mercy for them.

Yeah; it's the laity that has the problem, and the laity that needs Mercy. The Bishops are all doing all this for the laity. See?

Cardinal Kasper is looking to modify the "Discipline" of who can receive Eucharist to include all the millions upon millions of divorced and remarried Catholics who could not or did not even try to get an official Declaration of Nullity for their previous Marriage(s). After all, they're all coming to Communion regularly now anyway; why should the Church drive all those untold millions of "faithful" Catholics away by refusing them Sacraments, when what they really need is understanding and Mercy.

Cardinal Dolan is looking to modify the "Discipline" of who can receive Eucharist to include all the untold numbers of scandalous, publicly declared, open, active and even activist practicing homosexuals, who are also practicing Catholics. After all, they're all coming to Communion regularly now anyway; why should the Church drive all those "faithful" Catholics away by refusing them Sacraments, when what they really need is understanding and Mercy.

Cardinal Wuerl is looking to modify the "Discipline" of who can receive Eucharist to include everyone on earth, but particularly politicians and others who very publicly and scandalously promote, champion and sponsor the advancement of such Mortal Sins as Abortion and Homosexual Marriage in our American culture. After all, they're all coming to Communion regularly now anyway; why should the Church drive all those "faithful" Catholics away by refusing them Sacraments, when what they really need is understanding and Mercy.

They all need Mercy because they just don't know any better. See?

I submit that the Eucharist is perhaps the central original doctrine of the Catholic Church. The Scripture supporting it is presented in the Sacraments page. These traitorous Bishops may claim to be affecting mere Discipline or even rules of application in their Particular Churches, and seeking broader approval, but what they are messing with is fundamental dogma at the very foundation of the Church herself.

The singular Cardinal who publicly opposed this "Progress" is, of course, Cardinal Burke, who, apparently, was demoted for it, and will be shown no Mercy. It begins to appear that, in sheer numbers, the heterodox Bishops predominate over the orthodox Bishops.

If it were otherwise, would there not be other Bishops speaking up, being ostracized, pilloried by the Media, perhaps being demoted and exiled in some manner by Pope Francis and his closest Cardinal friends?

But no. Burke stands alone.

=====

Sarcastic Acronym Hover-Link Footnotes: For the convenience of those readers using devices that lack a mouse, these footnotes are provided for all webpages, in case any webpage contains any hover-links. (If you don't have a mouse, you can't "hover" it over a link without clicking just to see the simple acronym interpretation. Click a footnote link to see the gory details.)

Comments

Please note the language and tone of this monitored Website. This is not the place to just stack up vulgar
one-liners and crude rejoinders. While you may support, oppose or
introduce any position or argument, submissions must meet our high Roman Catholic and Constitutional American standards of Truth, logical rigor and civil discourse. We will not
participate in merely trading insults, nor will we tolerate participants merely
trading insults. Participants should not be
thin-skinned or over sensitive to criticism, but should be prepared to
defend their arguments when challenged. If you don’t really have a
coherent argument or counter-argument of your own, sit down and don’t
embarrass yourself. Nonsensical, obscene, blindly & doggedly anti-Catholic, anti-American, immoral or merely insulting submissions will
not be published here. If you have something serious to contribute to
the conversation, be prepared to back it up, keep it clean, keep it civil, and it will be published. We humbly
apologize to all religious conservative thinkers for the need to even say
these things, but the Hard Left is what it always was, the New Leftist Liberals are what they are, and the Internet is what it is.

"Clickbait" advertising links are not acceptable for posting here.

If you fear intolerant Leftist repercussions, do not use your real name and do not include email or any identifying information. Elitist Culturally Marxist Pure Authoritarians cannot and will not tolerate your freedom of speech or any opposition to their rigid authoritarian, anti-equality, anti-life, anti-liberty, anti-property, hedonistic, anti-Constitution, pro-Marxist, pro-Islam, anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-male, sexist, pro-homosexual, anti-heterosexual, anti-white, racist, anti-Western, anti-American, Globalist, anti-Nation, blatantly immoral, totally intolerant and bigoted point of view.

This Form cannot be submitted until the missing fields (labelled below in red) have been filled in

ADD COMMENT

Please note that all fields followed by an asterisk must be filled in.

If you want to establish, launch and maintain an independent personally owned actual WebSite like this one, go to SBI! They will make a Web-Master out of you at the very least, and make you into an entrepreneur with your own business if that's your goal. You don't need any special skills or special knowledge, other than the topic of whatever your WebSite will be about.

Silence in the face of evil is speaking. "We've had enough of exhortations to be silent!
Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten
because of silence." Saint Catherine of Siena

“An
error which is not resisted is approved; a truth which is not defended is
suppressed…. He who does not oppose an evident crime is open to the suspicion of
secret complicity.” – Pope Felix III

“Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God's creatures.
What you are in God's sight is what you are and nothing more”—Justice Clarence Thomas

"Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a 'right' to persist in evil-in any sin at all-and who thus rejects redemption." Pope Saint John Paul the GreatDOMINUM ET VIVIFICANTEM

"Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it, and, indeed, to neglect to confound evil men-when we can do it-is no less a sin than to encourage them." Pope St. Felix III

If a purposeful violator of the Constitution who is a sworn officer of the governemt is not a domestic enemy of America and a traitor, then
there is no such thing, and the Constitution itself is without meaning,
and America has lost its grounding and its very purpose for being. Anti-American-Court

Live Interviews

"All the evils of the world are due to lukewarm Catholics." Pope Pius V

"All the strength of Satan's reign is due to the easygoing weakness of Catholics." Pope St. Pius X

Click the image above topublish your essay or article here,to be included among those below.

Submitted Articles andReprinted Articles

(Note: copyrights on these articles wherever present will supersede the WebSite copyright at the bottom footer of every WebPage)

The Heresy of Chrislam. Those claiming that the “Allah” of Islam’s Qu’ran and Yahweh or God of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are one and the same are missing one glaring point: GOD NEVER CONTRADICTS HIMSELF.

Never be lukewarm.Life itself demands passion.He who is indifferent to God has already forfeited his soul.He who is indifferent to politics has already forfeited his liberty.In America, religion is not mere window dressing and citizenship is not a spectator sport.Do not allow our common destiny as a whole people to just happen without your input. Seek the Truth; find the Way; live the Life; please God, and live forever.

NewsletterCatholic American ThinkerFree E-zine Subscription

Email

You will receive immediate email newsletters with links to new articles as they are published here. Your email is perfectly secure here; we use it only to send you theCatholic American ThinkerNewsletterand absolutely nothing else.

The Purpose of this grouping of links is to highlight miss-placed and miss-applied Christian Mercy, which inevitably becomes Super-Toleration of Evil, and Progressive Compromise with Evil, until Evil Rules.

The Miss-Placed Mercy Pages.Describing the process by which formerly Christian American Culture degenerated into the corrupt, decadent and perverted mess we see today, in art, entertainment, literature, science, journalism, politics and general social behavior. Evil now dominates. Mercy is best applied to those best disposed to receive it. Note well that Biblical Mercy was not applied to the ancient Canaanites.

"We belong to the Church militant; and She is militant because on earth the powers of darkness are ever restless to encompass Her destruction. Not only in the far-off centuries of the early Church, but down through the ages and in this our day, the enemies of God and Christian civilization make bold to attack the Creator’s supreme dominion and sacrosanct human rights.”--Pope Pius XII

"It is not lawful to take the things of others to give to the poor. It is a sin worthy of punishment, not an act deserving a reward, to give away what belongs to others."--St. Francis of Assisi

Truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance
may deride it, but in the end, there it is.—Winston
Churchill

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who
deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.—Ayn Rand

Atheist Genesis:

In the beginning there was nothing, and nothing happened to nothing.
And then nothing accidentally exploded and created everything.
And then some bits of everything accidentally encountered other bits of everything and formed some new kinds of everything.
And then some bits of everything accidentally arranged themselves into self-replicating bits of everything.
And then some self-replicating bits of everything accidentally arranged themselves into dinosaurs.
See?

“ … for I have sworn upon
the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind
of man.” wrote Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush in
the year of our Lord 1800. The context
involved resistance to any form of Christianity or Deism legally imposing
itself throughout the USA. We must wonder what he might say
about our current government's forced imposition of strict secularism – i.e.,
anti-theism – throughout the USA. I submit that legally enforced secularism of society, like theocracy, like Marxism,
and like Islam, is, precisely, a form of tyranny over the mind of man.Nothing good can come from the religious cleansing of Judaeo-Christian society. Government imposed secularism is just another form of theocracy.